After dinner, Wang Chen went upstairs to the second floor, entered his bedroom, lay down on his bed, and sank into thought.
He had never expected that Wang Yan, the head of the Wang family, would openly take a side in court and declare support for the Second Prince, Xu Tianyu.
He knew well that every move made in the imperial court was watched by all civil and military officials—there was no room for jokes or playfulness there.
From now on, in the eyes of all officials of the Sun Moon Empire, the Wang family would be branded as part of the Second Prince's faction. Their fate would rise or fall together with his.
This made Wang Chen speechless toward Wang Yan's decision. They had been living peaceful lives—why get involved in the power struggle among the princes? Wasn't this putting the entire clan's safety at risk?
And of all people to support—he chose the Second Prince, Xu Tianyu.
Ever since Wang Chen had begun his cultivation as a Soul Master, his spiritual power had grown ever stronger, and his memory sharper. Even the memories from his past life had become increasingly vivid.
Wang Chen clearly remembered that, in the original story, it was the Second Prince who secretly orchestrated the assassination of Xu Tiannan. That assassination not only crippled Xu Tiannan's legs but also robbed him of his ability to reproduce.
Later, Xu Tiannan endured in silence for a while, but once he discovered that the Second Prince was the one behind the attempt on his life, he immediately launched a merciless retaliation.
Using secret means known to no one, he caused the Second Prince, Xu Tianyu, to die in his own chambers, and utterly wiped out the power supporting him.
Now, the Wang family had been marked as belonging to the Second Prince's faction. When Xu Tiannan sought revenge years later, the Wang family would inevitably be implicated.
This thought made Wang Chen restless.
Originally, he had only intended to watch the Sun Moon Empire's struggle for the throne as an idle spectator.
After all, he possessed a golden finger and was familiar with the original plot. As long as he developed steadily, he could seize several key opportunities from the story when his strength grew, allowing his power to skyrocket—becoming a god would be easy.
But now that Wang Yan had publicly declared his support for the Second Prince, dragging the Wang family into the imperial power struggle, Wang Chen's peaceful days were over.
When Xu Tiannan settled accounts in the future, Wang Chen could, of course, take his parents and flee the Sun Moon Empire early.
However, the hundreds of households of the Wang clan could not possibly escape. The target would be far too large—it was completely unrealistic.
Wang Chen had deep feelings for the Wang family, having lived there for eleven years. If he had the ability, he would naturally try to protect them.
But if, in the future, it truly became impossible… then Wang Chen would not foolishly stay behind and perish with them. He would take his parents and flee long before that happened.
When his cultivation reached its peak—when he became a Super Douluo or even an Ultimate Douluo—he would return to avenge the Wang family's destruction.
Of course, there was still some time before Xu Tiannan's assassination. For now, Xu Tiannan wasn't even the Crown Prince—he was only the eldest prince.
The struggle among the princes had only just begun, and no clear winner had emerged. Judging from the details in the original story, there should still be at least two or three years before that event.
Wang Chen had enough time to make plans—to use his advantage of foreknowledge and gain tremendous benefits from this imperial power struggle.
However, before planning anything, he needed to strengthen his own power.
After all, no matter how ingenious a strategy was, without sufficient strength to carry it out, it would only be a castle in the air—collapsing at a single touch.
Having sorted out his thoughts, Wang Chen's fighting spirit blazed as he began his cultivation.
He sat cross-legged, eyes closed, and his consciousness sank into the depths of his soul.
Within his spiritual sea, a tattered black book emitted a faint glow.
It was Wang Chen's golden finger—the Black Book. But it had been severely damaged when he traversed time and space, leaving many of its functions unusable.
Now, only its most basic abilities remained: recording, and the power to let its host quickly learn the skills it recorded.
Wang Chen controlled the black book and turned to the latest page. Two skills appeared before him—Dominating the World and Ring Tempering.
The skill Dominating the World required an extremely high level of spiritual power—at least that of a Soul Sage. So Wang Chen skipped it entirely and chose to learn the lower-requirement skill, Ring Tempering.
He let his consciousness merge into the black book.
His awareness drifted through the dark pages until he found the skill Ring Tempering.
Wang Chen's consciousness fused with the skill—and in that instant, a flood of information surged into his mind.
He rapidly came to understand how Ring Tempering worked: how to properly stimulate the power within a soul ring without damaging it,
how to use spiritual power to stabilize the energy drawn out from a soul ring,
and how to channel that energy to strengthen his own body…
After a long while, Wang Chen's consciousness returned to his body.
As it did, his body trembled slightly, and his eyes slowly opened.
In the next moment, with knowledge churning in his mind, Wang Chen pressed his hands to his head and furrowed his brow for a while before gradually calming down.
He exhaled a long breath of turbid air, his tone relaxed and a faint smile appearing on his lips.
"So that's how it is… I've learned it."
The moment his words fell, he completed his Martial Soul Possession.
As the process finished, a faint, hazy white phantom appeared behind him.
Two yellow soul rings rose and began to circle around his body.
A flash of light gleamed in Wang Chen's dark eyes as his two yellow rings flickered one after another.
A thin mist of white light rose from the soul rings and poured into his body.
Under the illumination of that pale mist, Wang Chen's already handsome appearance gained a touch of ethereal grace—like an immortal descending to the mortal world—dazzling and breathtaking.
Even his eyes now glowed faintly white, giving his deep black pupils a trace of mystery.
As energy poured in from the soul rings, Wang Chen's soul power and aura rapidly surged at an astonishing rate.
His original twenty-eighth level soul power instantly rose to a level comparable to that of a Soul Elder.
At that moment, Wang Chen felt an explosive power filling his body—a fullness unlike anything he had experienced before—so strong he almost wanted to roar to the heavens.
Furthermore, because he had lived two lives, his spiritual power was far greater than that of Soul Masters of the same level—even surpassing some Soul Sects.
Thus, channeling the power of two hundred-year soul rings caused him no harm at all. With ease, he used his spiritual strength to control that power and refine it into his own.
It could only be said that the Ring Tempering skill was a perfect match for Wang Chen—so much so that he succeeded flawlessly on his very first attempt.